¹As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ²For He says: ³We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry. ⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities; ⁵in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger; ⁶in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; ⁸through glory and dishonor, slander and praise; viewed as imposters, yet genuine; ⁹unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed; ¹⁰sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. ¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide. ¹²It is not our affection, but yours, that is restrained. ¹³As a fair exchange— I speak as to my children— open wide your hearts also.